Are Your Cleans Doing What They Are Supposed to do?
Written by Leo Totten, MS, USAW 5 Whether your sport is powerlifting, strongman, football or any other “strength” sport, the power clean should be part of your workout plan. Obviously, the major emphasis of your training should be whatever discipline you are participating in, but including power cleans at the right time can enhance the performance in any strength sport. When choosing the exercises to be put into your program, there are two primary considerations to keep in mind. Does the exercise fit a need or purpose and are the athletes able to perform the exercise correctly so it actually [...]
Strength & Conditioning Resources for Femoroacetabular Impingement
Written by Michael Silvestri Introduction & What is FAI As strength and conditioning professionals, part of the scope of practice is to work with athletes to manage and mitigate the risk of injury in sport. Having an athlete injured, or being an injured athlete is not a positive experience, as this would require the athlete to miss time away from their given sport. Although not all injuries can be prevented through training – particularly contact-related injuries – there are non-contact and overuse related injuries that strength and conditioning professionals should be aware of and work towards mitigating non-contact and overuse [...]
Alternative and Complementary Training Methods for Strength and Flexibility
Authors: David G Behm1, Andreas Konrad2 and Konstantin Warneke3 Institutions: 1 School of Human Kinetic and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, A1C 5S7. 2 Institute of Human Movement Science, Sport and Health, Graz University, Graz, Austria. 3 Institute of Sport Science, University of Klagenfurt, Universitätsstraße 65-67 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria Corresponding Author: David G Behm, School of Human Kinetic and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, A1C 5S7. 709-864-3408 Running Title: Resistance and Stretch Training Similarities Introduction It has been well known for millennia (e.g., legendary Milo of Croton progressing from lifting a calf [...]
Carleton University – Lead Strength and Conditioning
Position Title: Lead, Strength and Conditioning Coach Department: Recreation and Athletics About Carleton University Carleton University is situated on unceded Algonquin territory and bordered by the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Ottawa, Ontario. The university is just minutes from the heart of our nation's government and G-7 organizations and this capital advantage provides opportunities for staff and faculty and students to make a positive impact in our community and around the world. As one of the 2023 Top 100 Employers in Canada and one of the National Capital Region’s Top Employers for nine [...]
Blurring the Lines in the CFL: Insights from Brayden Miller
One of the questions I often ask students that are applying for an internship with the Winnipeg Bluebombers is “what do you think we do here?” Obviously a fairly nebulous question, but the answer can provide a lot. From the outside looking in, one might expect a strength and conditioning coach working in the CFL would be responsible for just that (S&C). But working with the Bluebombers has been much more than just S&C (whatever your definition/roles/responsibilities might be). When I was hired for the position in 2017, it wasn’t because I had football specific insight and training experience. I’d [...]
The Use of Velocity Based Training in a Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Setting
During the late 1990s, developments in technology allowed S&C coaches to begin measuring the velocity of weight room movements. Coaches began to implement the use of this technology with their athletes and studying the outcomes on performance. Further innovations in Velocity Based Training (VBT) technology increased during the 2000s making the tools more accessible to S&C coaches. Currently, coaches around the world are using VBT in a wide variety of settings and populations. VBT is known to be an effective training modality and benefits include the autoregulation of lifts, enhancing specificity of movements, and improving athlete motivation (1, 2). VBT [...]
Resistance Training Can Improve Range of Motion
Authors: Shahab Alizadeh1, Abdolhamid Daneshjoo2, Ali Zahiri1, Saman Hadjizadeh Anvar1, Reza Goudini1, Jared P Hicks1, Andreas Konrad1,3,4, David George Behm1 Institutions: 1School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 2 Department of Sport Injuries, Physical Education and Sport Sciences Faculty, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran. 3 Institute of Human Movement Science, Sport and Health, Graz University, Graz, Austria 4 Associate Professorship of Biomechanics in Sports, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany Stretching has been considered an essential component of warm-ups, fitness, and health [1]. However, over the last 25 years it has [...]
A Model of How To Begin Your Career as a Capable and Impactful Strength and Conditioning Coach
Starting any new position is never easy. The feelings of uncertainty, incapability and ineffectiveness flood our bodies. The first few weeks or months of any position (whether paid or unpaid) are challenging and can be exacerbated in an elite sport or competitive environment. The process of being an impactful and capable strength and conditioning coach should be one that is empowering, inspiring and grounded in a mindset of growth. For new people in the field, it can be intimidating and overwhelming which may and potentially cause good people to leave the field. My primary hope with this article is to [...]
Psychosocial Stress and Strength & Conditioning
Hans Selye (1936) was the first to describe the adaptive nature of a living organism in response to stress. Selye’s theory focused on the role of the adrenal cortex response as critical to both the adaptive and maladaptive responses to stressors. Cortisol, a glucocorticoid, is a steroid hormone produced by the zona fasiculata of the adrenal cortex of the adrenal gland (Hackney and Walz, 2013). The glucocorticoids play a role in maintaining a euglycemic state of blood glucose by stimulating gluconeogenesis, the synthesis of glucose from non carbohydrate sources like amino acids in the liver, stimulating the expression of enzymes [...]
The Importance of In-Season Strength and Conditioning Training
The benefits of strength and conditioning (S&C) training for athletes of all levels have been long established. Athletes who engage in well-structured and evidence-based off-season S&C programs can make significant gains in strength, power and other performance measures, as well as reduce their risk of injury (1,2). The reality is that most athletes, especially those in competitive team sport, spend the majority of the calendar year in a competitive phase. This means that without an effective in-season S&C approach, athletes risk decreasing a large portion of the performance gains they made in the prior off-season (3). In-season training presents a [...]
Dr. Matt Jordan Interview: Jump Assessments – Measurements, Decision Making, Return to Play
https://youtu.be/q0foCc1wQws Matt Jordan is a specialist in player health and performance. He has been a sport scientist consultant for elite athletes over six Olympic Winter Games. Matt holds a Master of Science in Exercise and Neuromuscular Physiology, and a PhD in Medical Science. His research focuses on neuromuscular adaptations to resistance training and knee injury/re-injury prevention. A key method in his research is the development of neuromuscular testing techniques that can be used to monitor recovery after knee injuries to forecast recovery and improve rehabilitation. Currently, Matt is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of [...]
Adopting a Constraints-Led Approach for Strength and Conditioning: Applications to Teaching the Olympic Lifts
While preparing athletes for their sports it is important to not only develop the physical tools required to satisfy the demands of their activities but to also consider how people are moving during training. In addition to improving maximum strength, conditioning, speed, and so on, the job of the strength coach is to also teach movement skills to their athletes. It’s been shown that interventions designed with a movement & fitness oriented approach increase fitness to a similar extent as programs focused solely on developing fitness, but also result in positive changes in movement behaviours that transfer to other activities [...]
Programming Considerations for Return to Play Post COVID-19
It goes without saying that coaches (S&C, and otherwise) are dealing with a relatively unique challenge as we begin the process of returning to training after COVID-19. In a typical year for high performance athletes, 3-4 weeks may be near the upper end of a “transition” or active recovery period before returning to full-time training. In contrast, we are currently reaching approximately 19 weeks (as August begins) of limited or no sport-specific training. This is quite possibly the longest period that many high performance athletes have had “off” of their sport in years, or even their entire careers (we’ll ignore [...]
Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI) with Trevor Cottrell and Chris Juneau
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is becoming a common injury amongst athletes who participate in full squat training and Olympic weightlifting. Anatomical design, when combined with a repeated full range of hip flexion under load, can result in one or more types of lesions of the hip joint, which is vulnerable during these types of activities. FAI occurs when the ball-shaped femoral head contacts the acetabulum abnormally, or does not permit a normal range of motion in the acetabular socket. The pain is associated with damage to the articular cartilage, or labral cartilage (soft tissue, ring-shaped bumper of the socket), or [...]
Youth Resistance Training: Facts and Fictions (Review Article)
By Andrew Cochran, PhD, CSCS “Is it safe for my young athlete(s) to weight train?” This is a question I hear often. I hear it from sport coaches, from athletes’ parents, and from friends who are new to parenthood but are already drafting their newborn’s professional contract(s). While almost certainly “preaching to the choir” on this one, I think it’s important to provide a succinct and well-educated response to this question. Not only because it’s my job, but also because it a) helps educate coaches’ and parents to make the best health & performance decisions possible, and b) (hopefully) helps [...]
Starting from a Clean Slate with a Decentralized Team Sport Program
Scott Willgress, Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic The Beginning Rewind to the fall of 2016. I had been working in Halifax for 6 years with athletes and groups of varying levels. From private weekend warriors, to provincial level, next-generation, and a few Olympians in sports like sailing, sprint canoe/kayak, boxing, and artistic gymnastics. Don’t get me wrong, I loved working with these sports – I’m all about the challenge of working with a sport I have no history with and have never competed in myself. It’s easy to come into this situation with a beginner’s mindset when you truly are a [...]
Using Athletics and Strength and Conditioning Programs to Keep Kids Active for Life
Sarah Applegarth M.Sc, CSCS, CSEP-CEP, R.Kin With daily public school-based gym curriculum diminishing, and the allure of screen time, the incidence of obesity in Canada has our country receiving a failing grade on our physical activity report card. In 1978, 14% of Canadians were considered obese (1). This obesity number rose in 2015 to 25% in adults and 24.5% of 15-year-olds were reported as overweight (1). This number is projected to rise to 30% by the year 2030 (1). This will create a significant burden on our healthcare system. Participation in sport and supplementary strength and conditioning programs are necessary [...]
The Changing Role of S&C: Planning the Time Outside the Gym for an S&C Coach
Since the founding of the NSCA just over 40 years ago strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches have gone from being a fringe group of professionals fighting for opportunities at all levels of sport to an integral part of a sport performance program. With increased recognition of the importance of S&C in the development of an athlete comes increased time demands and the potential for work/life balance to become skewed towards work. Massey and Vincent (4) in a survey of NCAA D1 female strength coaches found that during the fall the coaches reported working an average of 60 hours per week [...]
